This is a bit off topic for Ask Patty, however the news of a Hillary
Clinton running for President in 2008 was just irresistible to post
about.

Interesting to me is that Hillary Clinton supports programs for non-traditional careers for women. She has worked to expand
opportunities for women to enter non-traditional occupations, such as
automotive technician, carpenter, electrician, or police officer. Women are still
significantly underrepresented in these fields, yet these jobs often
pay very well and include benefits like health insurance and pensions. She has worked to improve
the federal vocational education program by providing incentives for
states to help girls and women enter and succeed in non-traditional
fields. She also introduced a Senate Resolution honoring women in
the trades.
There
is a woman chancellor in Germany, a woman president in Liberia and also
in Chile, but when it comes to the United States, the only female
Commander in Chief is the one Gina Davis played on television.

A
2006 CBS News/New York Times poll finds that 92 percent of all
Americans say they would vote for a woman if she were qualified, up
from just about half in the 1950s.

Is the American public ready for a woman president of the United States?

Hillary
Clinton is not the first woman candidate to run for the office of
President. This is the ninth attempt for a woman to run for President
of the United States, beginning in 1872:

Women have always had a
tough time in American politics. In 1872, when Victoria Woodhull became
the first woman to run for president, women did not even have the right
to vote in federal elections. They didn't get it until 1920.

Victoria
Woodhull, a stockbroker, publisher, and protégé of Cornelius
Vanderbilt, ran for president of the United States in 1872 on the Equal
Rights Party ticket. Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to
practice law before the U.S Supreme Court ran for president on the same
party's ticket in 1884 and 1888.

Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (ME)
became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for
president at a major party convention when Sen. George Aiken nominated
her at the 1964 Republican
national convention. Smith – also the
first woman to serve in both the House and Senate – had campaigned
briefly for the post when the Senate was not in session.

In
1972, Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY) ran for president in the Democratic
primaries. At the party's national convention, she won 151.25 delegate
votes before Sen. George McGovern clinched the nomination.

Frances
(Sissy) Farenthold, a former Texas state legislator who twice ran for
governor of that state, finished second in the balloting for the 1972
Democratic vice presidential nomination, receiving more than 400 votes.

Third-term
Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-NY), secretary of the House
Democratic Caucus, became the first woman ever to run on a major
party's national ticket when she was selected by Walter F. Mondale as
his Vice Presidential running mate in 1984.

Congresswoman
Patricia Schroeder (D-CO) explored the idea of running for president in
the 1988 election, but bowed out of the race after concluding that she
could not overtake men who had been running and raising funds for
months before her.

Elizabeth Dole, who had served as U.S.
Secretary of Labor, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Federal Trade
Commissioner, and president of the American Red Cross, ran for the
Republican presidential nomination in 2000. After failing to attract
sufficient early support, she withdrew from the race. She now
represents North Carolina in the U.S. Senate.

Ambassador Carol
Moseley Braun (D-IL) is among ten Democrats seeking the 2004
presidential nomination. An attorney and one-term U.S. senator
(1992-1998), Braun has also served as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand,
Illinois state representative, and Cook County Recorder of Deeds.

2006
- Senator Hillary Clinton was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26,
1947. She is the daughter of Dorothy Rodham and the late Hugh Rodham.
Her father was a small businessman and her mother a homemaker. She is a
graduate of Wellesley College and Yale Law School. She is married to
former President William Jefferson Clinton. They have one daughter,
Chelsea.